The European Union’s Neighbourhood Programme Assessment of the Agriculture and Rural Development Sectors in the Eastern Partnership countries The Republic of Armenia Funded by the European Union Implemented by FAO FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU) Benczur utca 34. H-1068 Budapest Hungary Tel: +36 1 4612000 Fax: +36 1 3517029 E-mail: [email protected] FAO Project No. GCP/RER/041/EC EU Project No. ENPI 2012/298-262 Start date: 16th July, 2012 End date: 31st December, 2012 This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the FAO and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. List of abbreviations AAP Annual Action Plan ARD Agriculture and Rural Development AMD Armenian Dram, national currency, (534 to the EUR September 2012) AOAF Armenian Organic Agriculture Foundation BSEC Black Sea Economic Cooperation BSP Budget Support Programme CIB Comprehensive Institution Building CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CNFA Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs EaP Eastern Partnership EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EC European Commission EU European Union Eurostat European Statistical Service DCFTA Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area DCI Instrument for Development Cooperation DG AGRI Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development DG DEVCO Directorate General for Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid DANIDA Danish International Development Agency EEN Enterprise Europe Network EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ENPARD European Neighbourhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development ENPI European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument ENRTP Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources EPR Environmental Performance review EUD Delegation of the European Union FAA Federation of Agricultural Associations FADN Farm Analytical Network FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations FCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change FDI Foreign Direct Investment FSP Food Security Programme GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development IDP Internally Displaced Person IFOAM International Federation of Organic Movements INOGATE Interstate Oil and Gas Transportation to Europe JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau MCA Millennium Challenge Account MDG Millennium Development Goals MoA Ministry of Agriculture MoE Ministry of Economy MoF Ministry of Finance MTA Ministry of Territorial Administration MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework NSA Non-state actors PFM Public Financial Management 1 PPP Purchasing Power Parity RA Republic of Armenia SDC Swiss Development Cooperation SIF Social Investment Fund SIGMA Support for Improvement in Governance and Management SME Small and Medium Enterprise SPNA Specially Protected Natural Areas SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary SPSP Sector Policy Support Programme TAIEX Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (DG General Enlargement) TCP Technical Cooperation Project UNECE United Nations Economic Commission of Europe UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environmental Program USAID the United States Agency for International Development USDA The United States Department of Agriculture 2 Contents List of abbreviations ....................................................................................................................... 1 Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 3 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 5 1.1. Context and objective of the sector analyses....................................................................... 5 1.2. Study Team ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.3. Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 6 2. Background and key figures ....................................................................................................... 7 2.1. General context and economic indicators ........................................................................... 7 2.2. Agriculture and the rural sector ......................................................................................... 10 3. Government Policy for the agriculture and rural development sectors .................................... 23 3.1. Description and assessment of the state of the art’ in national regulations ....................... 23 3.2. Description and assessment of the current and planned Governments agriculture and rural development policy interventions and/or strategies ................................................................. 26 3.3. How correspondent Government programs fit into the ENPARD approach .................... 33 4. Assessment of institutional capacity ........................................................................................ 34 4.1. Assessment of government institutions for managing, implementing and monitoring an ENPARD approaches ............................................................................................................... 34 4.2. Assessment of agriculture and rural economy stakeholders for managing, implementing and monitoring an ENPARD approaches ................................................................................. 37 4.3. Assessment of the need for training of the agriculture and rural economy stakeholders, including private sector, to utilize ENPARD approaches ........................................................ 38 5. Review of existing ongoing programmes ................................................................................. 39 5.1. Review of existing programs ............................................................................................. 39 5.2. Benchmarks in the framework of agriculture and rural development policies ................. 43 6. Bottlenecks and SWOT analysis .............................................................................................. 44 6.1. Sectors specific SWOT analysis ....................................................................................... 44 6.2. List of the most relevant priorities areas ........................................................................... 46 7. Recommendations on actions that could be implemented in a bilateral context...................... 47 7.1. Identified gaps for development of agricultural and rural sector in the framework of future actions ............................................................................................................................ 48 7.2. Proposals for actions in Armenia and the South Caucasus to address these gaps ............ 50 8. Identification of regional gaps and priorities and recommendations for future actions ........... 51 8.1. Assessment of regional variations and disparities in agriculture production and rural development, including the livestock sector ............................................................................ 53 8.2. Recommendations on actions that could/should be implemented in a regional context ... 55 9. Conclusions and lessons learnt ................................................................................................. 57 9.1. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 57 9.2. Common Regional Agenda Items for the Panel on Agriculture and Rural Development 59 10. References and sources used .................................................................................................. 60 11. Annexes .................................................................................................................................. 61 Annex 1: Workshop report ....................................................................................................... 62 Annex 2: Donor programmes in the sector .............................................................................. 67 Annex 3: Comments from the MoA to the report .................................................................... 74 3 4 1. Introduction 1.1. Context and objective of the sector analyses Many of the Eastern Partnership countries have a rural population relying to some extent for their livelihoods on small, and divided land plots, and communal or state owned pasturelands. These small-holders have very limited resources with little growth potential. The products from these lands are often only for subsistence purposes. The selling of any surpluses is made difficult by limited links to organised markets, and access to,